Philip Brophy: Colour Me Dead

Overview

Philip Brophy has the sort of job that would make any teenage boy jealous: considering the naked body. Or more correctly, researching and analysing the changing perceptions of the nude in art.

Brophy has taken a quite groundbreaking approach to his new exhibition, Colour Me Dead. Rather than simply allowing his research to inform his art, Brophy's extensive study of over 3000 nudes, dating back to the Neoclassical and Romantic eras, has played an intrinsic and foundational function in his artistic creations. The six digital works that make up Colour Me Dead are an artistic representation of Brophy's thesis: that the nude is no longer representative of the ideal human body, but a much darker reflection of an artist's psycho-sexual compulsions.

Featuring two digital videos, two digital animations and two suites of digital prints, Colour Me Dead looks set to be as fascinating as it is subversive. Brophy's belief, that everything from Picasso's deformed subjects to Pollock's abstract landscapes are all part of a process of destruction and decimation of the perfect female form, is undoubtedly a controversial one, set to be a talking point in art circles.

To witness this incredible fusion of art theory and technical innovation, head to the Ian Potter Museum of Art from June 14.